COMMUNITY BRIEFING

The village has been honored by Clean Air Counts for its efforts to improve the environment by reducing ozone in the community.

Laura Shallow, chairwoman of the village's Environmental Commission and member of Clean Air Counts, this week presented the Village Board with a bronze plaque. Clean Air Counts is a regional environmental initiative.

The village has had an environmental commission for a decade but in recent years began stepping up efforts with educational programs on recycling and conservation. An Earth Day celebration in April features educational presentations, activities for kids, such as kite making and face painting, as well as vendors.

The commission last year also encouraged the village to start promoting storm-water management with rain barrels, with about 80 families purchasing barrels.

"We try to encourage maintaining a clean and green environment in the community," Shallow said.

-- Janice Neumann

FRANKFORT

Stimulus money might aid U.S. 30

Federal economic stimulus money could finance a wider, safer and smoother U.S. Highway 30, local officials said this week.

Mayor Jim Holland urged Frankfort residents to respond to a newspaper advertisement from the Illinois Department of Transportation seeking suggestions for "worthy projects" to be funded with Illinois' share of the money generated by the new federal economic stimulus bill.

Lincoln-Way area officials have spent years lobbying the state for a major upgrade of the pothole-pocked, two-lane stretch of U.S. Highway 30 west from Harlem Avenue through Frankfort and Mokena into New Lenox.

Holland said at the Village Board meeting he has a letter from U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.) supporting the inclusion of U.S. Highway 30 on the list of infrastructure improvements that merit federal support.

Drivers from all over the south suburban region travel on U.S. Highway 30 every day, the mayor said.

"It's important for us to do what we can for this regional project," he said.

-- Pat Harper

FRANKFORT

Day-care service slated for center

A day-care center is expected to be the next tenant to move into an 8.5-acre retail center.

The Village Board this week approved changes in the town's annexation agreement with the developer of Cappel Commons to allow the operation of a Children of America day-care center.

Two buildings planned for the north end of the commercial property on the northwest corner of U.S. Highway 30 and Frankfort Square Road will be combined for a 16,800-square-foot day-care center with a fenced-in 3,400-square-foot outdoor play area.

Also approved were extended hours so the day-care could open at 6 a.m.

Developers said they expect the day-care business would draw more potential customers to the area and more retail and office tenants to Cappel Commons, which has a restaurant, fitness center and other retailers.

-- Pat Harper

JOLIET

Homeless shelter wins a reprieve

Daybreak Center's cold weather shelter for the homeless will remain open for another two weeks while it tries to get funding from the city.

Shelter officials threatened to close the shelter at this week's City Council meeting because of a lack of city funding. The council last year agreed to cut funding for social service agencies, including Daybreak, because of a drop in the city's share of gaming revenue.

Daybreak could end up losing a $750,000 federal matching grant if it does not receive the $240,000 it anticipated receiving from the city, shelter officials said.

The center is part of Catholic Charities and offers a variety of services, including the cold weather shelter for the homeless to stay on frigid nights. It also runs a separate year-round homeless shelter and a transitional housing program to help the homeless find permanent housing.

At the council meeting, aldermen questioned how the center has become so dependent on riverboat gaming funds from the city, noting that those funds are never promised from year to year and were never intended for day-to-day operations at any agency.

Pamela Kostecki, division director of community services for Catholic Charities, said the agency has done its share of budget cuts since learning of the city's funding cuts.

-- Alicia Fabbre

TINLEY PARK

Smaller budget helps credit rating

There is a bright side to plans to slash at least $2 million from the municipal budget over the next two years, trustees told representatives from nearly a dozen citizen-advisory groups this week.

Mayor Ed Zabrocki said the village is lobbying state and federal representatives to fund 10 village projects, ranging in cost from $3 million to $35 million. Trustee Patrick Rea said the top project, a downtown parking deck, would create 1,700 construction-related jobs and 1,200 long-range jobs from surrounding businesses.

Rea said none of the federal funding could be used to offset the village's declining revenues from property, sales and income taxes, which he linked to the national recession.

Village officials will have to keep thinking of trimming the municipal budget through 2009, and possibly 2010, Rea predicted. "The first time we will see anything approaching growth is 2011," he said.